2026.1.1 Requires Encryption Key

[Fozzie_Bear (John Felstead)]

Hi All, I have the ESP Home Device builder update 2026.1.1 queuing but I dare not install it until I clarify a point.

In the Release Note Upgrade checklist it states * If you used api: password:, replace it with api: encryption: key:

Please could someone help with how and where I check this? I read somewhere that from v 2023 all installs required an encryption key so it might already be in place but I am not sure if that is correct

Also do you have to update all your ESP32 devices when you install a Device Builder update?
Many thanks

[Edwin_D]

If you have the yaml file for the esp device you can see what is there. If it is an old device then you might need to replace the password with a newly generated api key, but if the device is only a couple of years old it will probably already have an api key.

If you do not have the yaml file you can’t rebuild it anyway.

[Fozzie_Bear (John Felstead)]

many thanks @Edwin_D I’ll take a look at yaml files.
I appreciate the quick reply.

[Edwin_D]

If you do need to replace it, here’s how:

2023.2: ESPHome deprecated API password: how to update to encryption key

If you run ESPHome separately from HA (separate Docker container, for example) and have existing ESPHome devices that are now warning about deprecated passwords following an HA update to 2023.2 or later, here’s how to fix: Go here, and copy the randomly-generated base64 key (or generate your own). [image] In your ESPHome configuration for each device, find the lines: api: password: "YOUR_PASSWORD" Replace it with this, substituting in the key from above: api: encryption: key: "YOUR…